Condition of girl shot by father improves

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The condition of a 2-year-old Vallejo girl who was shot by her father has improved, a hospital official said this morning.

Diana Yee, spokeswoman for Children’s Hospital in Oakland, said Brooklyn Owens-Watson’s condition has been upgraded today from critical to serious. The girl reportedly is no longer using a respirator to breathe.

Vallejo police said Vernon Val Watson, 41, fatally shot his wife Stacey Denice Owens-Watson, 31, and the couple’s daughter in their home at 370 Carousel Drive on Friday just before midnight. Watson then fatally shot himself. He died at Kaiser Hospital and his wife was pronounced dead at the scene.

Owens-Watson’s 10-year-old son fled to a neighbor’s during the shooting.

Vallejo police said Watson was arrested in 1999 for misdemeanor domestic battery against another woman in Oakland but there was "marital discord" at the couple’s Vallejo home although no arrests were made.